Ok, actually some of the close ups turned out really nice. But anything like a full body shot (or half body, since it’s a lazy Sunday and neither hair nor makeup happened) ? Black blob. Sorry.
So the pattern is Burda 6926—JEGGINGS. I wanted jeggings to go with my scrunchy top. I can’t quite articulate why, since I’ve lived thirty-mumble years already without jeggings and gotten by quite well (arguably I need another pair or three of REAL jeans, but I’m not sure these will really fill that slot)… but anyway. The fabric and the pattern both hit me at just the right time.
So, let’s start with fit. I could tell from the photo (or guessed from the photo) that the front rise was going to be excessively high, but I figured I like a bit more coverage in the back so I’ll leave that. I cut the front pattern piece along the lengthen/shorten line and hinged it down, pretty much as far as I could without obliterating the fly. You can see the wedge taken out towards the top of the picture above. This is not really the best way to make this alteration, but I was feeling too lazy to attempt to do it “properly”, which would involve tracing the front with the pocket-yoke in place, adjusting the rise, and then removing the pocket-yoke again and adding all those seam allowances. I figured this would get me into the right ballpark. I also measured the inseam (going for the longer version), which was around 29″ (actually probably a bit less since I don’t think I subtracted hem). Now, leggings don’t need as much inseam as regular pants, and skinnies don’t need as much as flares if they’re stopping at the ankle (though I will admit that I love that excess-fabric-scrunched-up-at-the-ankle look Tyo always gets, with the same kind of envy that I once had for people who got to walk on the backs of their flares). But 29″ is not quite flood-pants length, plus these are contoured both above and below the knee. So I added 3cm at each lengthen-shorten line, coming to a total of 6 cm, just over 2″. 31″ is in the right ballpark for me, at least for leggings.
I should mention before I get ahead of myself, there are no front pockets in these jeggings. There is a separate pocket yoke piece, which you just sew to the front and topstitch down. A little silly, but it gives you the look. It would be easy enough to add pockets to them, but I think the outline of the bags would probably show through.
In the picture above, you can see a blue chalked line running and inch or so below the waist. When I got to try-on stage, I had good (barely) coverage in the back—a bit of a dip there, actually—a little high in the front, and REALLY high at the sides. Which is a really weird look, by the way. I put them on, pinned the elastic around my hips where I wanted the waistband to be, and chalked out my changes. Unfortunately, this cut off most of my “pockets”. Not a practical problem for this pair, but not quite the visual I’d been hoping for.
As you can see, not much pocket. I didn’t do much topstitching on the waistband, nor did I add a decorative button as the pattern suggested. Really, this bit isn’t going to fool anyone—nor, frankly, is it likely to be seen at all since I’m well past my crop-tops phase. /sigh.
I do think I did pretty well on the topstitching—topstitching a fly is extra easy when there’s no actual zipper underneath to work around!
Although, I completely failed at getting my topstitching to go the right way front-to-back. Fortunately, no one else should ever be looking at my crotch like this.
Which brings us to the back. There is no yoke, which I guess is fine for jeggings? It certainly speeds up the sewing. It made positioning the pockets a little odd, though (what, you say I could’ve used the pocket placement from the pattern? Heresy!)
I quite like the size of the pockets, though. I opted for plain, mostly since I don’t trust the straight topstitching to hold up over time on this stretchy fabric.
Speaking of which, I determined on testing that my fabric had about 25% stretch crosswise and 50% lengthwise. Weird! So I cut them on the cross-grain, to get maximum stretch going around me. Then I wound up having to take in the jeans at the side-seams by a good 1/2″ (so a total of 2″ around) each. So maybe 25% stretch would’ve been fine. Anyway, 25% stretch is well within the capacity of normal stretch-denims, so you could maybe even try this pattern with regular denim, not just a denim knit like this. Although I feel like the waistband would be a bit weird. I dunno.
This is the better of the two hems. 😉 Nearly perfect! I was trying to do the construction on my Grandma’s machine and the topstitching on my White, since a) Grandma’s machine already had a bobbin wound in the right thread, and b) last time I did topstitching on Grandma’s machine, it pitched fits and had terrible tension issues (I also didn’t have a topstitching needle, which doubtless contributed to the problem. This time, I have a whole package). Well, the White wasn’t too in love with the topstitching, either, so finally when I was fighting with the last hem I switched over to Grandma’s machine and it was—well, not exactly a breeze, but about a jillion times better. And no tension issues. So maybe it was all in the needle.
Anyway, weirdnesses aside, I think they will serve. (See, we even tried outdoor photos! Also, do you see that wet pavement? Spring is coming! And, yes, the house next door is ridiculously close to ours.
Tanit-Isis Sews 
They look terrific!
Thanks! 🙂
Absolutely amazing!
Well, not really. But thank you! 😉
Nice job!
thanks!
Great job. I have the same attitude about the crotch topstitching. If I am being authoring lady, no one should see that slight miss.
Hehe! Exactly! Although, maybe I am exaggerating my lady-liked-ness.
They look GREAT!
thanks! 😀 I think I need more…
I thought our house was about as close as you could really get to another house, but ours is about twice as far away as yours (though it feels the same since there is a fence between).
I know nothing about jeggings, but they look good to me and as for the pockets not being there if they aren’t really pockets anyway, I don’t see that it makes a difference.
Ours would only happen in a neighbourhood built before zoning laws were enforced… 😉 Fortunately we “get” to use the whole space—it has access to our backyard, not the neighbours—otherwise there’d be no way to get to our back (side) door!
To get a nice fit on these jeggings, I would have had you cut a test muslin in the same fabric, just front and back with a higher waistline. Try them on, and tie a 1/4″ elastic where you want your waist to be, and carefully chalk your waistline. Also have a friend chalk a back pocket location using a tag pocket pattern. Generally, the top edge of the pockets should be parallel to the waist seam. In addition, if you want a yoke, now is the time to mark that seam line. Don’t forget to mark front pocket locations. Finally, if there are smile lines radiating out from the crotch, pin those out. Transfer all markings to your paper pattern, with the chalked waistline being the seam line that attaches the waistband. The smile lines that were marked will be transferred to scooping out the crotch curvature. A second muslin made from the first with all the changes and a waistband would further guarantee a good fit.
Those would have been great ideas if I had, oh, two or three times as much fabric and more than a half a day to sew them in. Oh, and a friend around to mark chalk-lines on my butt. 😉
I know, where is that friend with the chalk when you really need her? If you find her, please send her my way too! 🙂
They look really nice. I’m all for an easy, comfortable fit and those look like they fit the bill. Love the way you put on the pockets. I sort of close one eye and hope for the best….
Is it wrong to admit I measure them by fingers? On my Jailie jeans my pockets need to be two fingers out from the back seam and three down from the yoke. Having no yoke kind of messed with that, though… 😉
Great job! I bought my first pair of jeggings last summer. They are short so I probably should make a proper pair. Your top stitching astounds me.
Happy Spring! It is coming (though we get it first). 🙂
They look smashing. I’ve never owned jeggings but this is making me want to knock some up 🙂
Bring on Spring! I’ve had enough of this winter too.
Something about the whole outfit looks very Audrey Hepburn in the first picture.
I love them, and your topstitching is SO perfect! Maybe it’s an affliction of a thirty-mumblish (LOL!), but personally I cannot stop wearing my jeggings. I think it should be a trend. Again. Because the first time around I did not get it, but now I do!
I’m really jealous of your topstitching. Seriously, nice job there! I don’t know if I could ever wear jeggings myself, but I think yours look really good and fantastic on you. 🙂
I love them…perfect for me.
They look fantastic and I suspect you’ll lint in them!
“Live in them”. Thanks, phone.
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